KNOWING ABOUT THIS..

JUNE 26: There is for the moment a lot of talk about how we in Europe should ensure a recovery after the present corona crisis. Everybody seems to agree that special and huge initiatives are needed.   Some have said that we need a new Marshall Plan for Europe – esp. to help those countries which are hardest hit. What was the Marshall Plan?   It was a huge assistance programme, which the US initiated in 1948 to help Europe getting back on its feet again after the World War II. The programme lasted for four years – from 1948-52.   Its size was more than 12 billion dollars. In today’s money   ( 2020 ) it would be 129 billion dollars.   Most of the assistance was gifts, which should not be paid back.   Altogether 16 European countries accepted the offer. The money was given with a number of important conditions:   The European countries had to abolish trade barriers between them, so trade could prosper again. And they had to work closely to...

JUNE 16: Yesterday a summit was held between the EU and United Kingdom ( PM Boris Johnson ).   It is time to make an update on the situation. The key new point is that the UK has now formally stated that it does not want a prolongation of the transitional period.   They want definitively to leave the EU on December 31, 2020.    At the same time it was agreed at the summit yesterday that the negotiations on a trade agreement between the two parties will continue.   PM Johnson claims that he wants such an agreement in place before the end of the year. In reality this is not new. The United Kingdom ( UK ) left the EU on January 31, 2020.   In the Withdrawal Agreement it was stated, that a transition period would last for 11 months, from February 1 to December 31, 2020.   The UK would no longer have members in the EU institutions, but still in other ways be treated as a member of the EU in that period – with free access to the single mark...

June 15: Today it is exactly 100 years ago, since the southern part of Jutland was re-united with Denmark.  It had been part of Germany for 56 years. I have in a earlier comment told about the Danish government in 1864, which was very unflexible in its peace negotiations.   If it had been mere flexible we know from German sources today that it might have been possible to arrange a new border almost at the same place as the border today. But this did not happen. And the whole of Slesvig-Holsten ( Schleswig-Holstein ) became part of Germany and was so for 56 years until 1920. When World War I had ended and the American president Wilson had suggested that the peace treaties should be based on peoples’ self-determination referenda were prepared in Schleswig.   The were under British-French-Norwegian-Swedish leadership.   The first vote took place on February 10 in the predominantly Danish-speaking northern part.   The result was 74 % for Denmark and 26...

JUNE 14: Yesterday I encouraged you to “mark” the birthday of president Trump today.   I understand that some of you have difficulties in opening the photo of the painting of Barack Obama.    Strange ☹    It is a normal JPG format. I enclose it again – also as enclose to this mail. In addition I send you a link to 33 of the best photos of Barack Obama.   You may choose from that list instead, if you want to: https://www.businessinsider. com/best-obama-photos-2018-4

JUNE 13: As many of you will know I think birthdays are very important.   That is why we should always remember to greet each other in different ways at their occasion 😊 Tomorrow – June 14 – Donald Trump will turn 74. And whatever each of us think about him – and we certainly do ☹   - I also think that we have to do something at that occasion. One of the “surprising” things Trump has done recently is to refuse to install a painting of his predecessor, Barack Obama, in The White House.   This has always been a nice tradition done by previous American presidents. Therefore, we should – in my view – all mark the president’s birthday tomorrow by putting the Obama painting on all our social media sites ( Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. ).   Or wherever you want to put it. And encourage others to do the same! If really many of us do that it is my feeling that Trump will feel, that he and his birthday are not forgotten 😊 We could write wit...

JUNE 12: There is a lot of talk these days about racism and the slave trade centuries ago.   About 12 ½ million Africans were against their will taken to America in the period 1523 – 1866.   They are the ancestors of the black Americans today. More or less all European countries took part in this activity, at least all with a coastline and ships. This was in particular the so-called triangle trade.   The ships went off from Europe with guns, gunpowder, etc. to Africa, esp. West Africa.   Here they sold the guns and got Africans instead.   They had been caught by the local African authorities and forced to go on board the ships.   Then the ships continued 2-3 months westwards and arrived in America.   Here they sold the African slaves and got rum, sugar and spices in return.   With that on board they sailed back to Europe to sell it. Denmark was no exception. Its ships transported 111.000 African slaves from West Africa to the Dan...

JUNE 9: Today I want to write about the coming presidential elections in POLAND. They will take place on Sunday, June 28. Originally, they should have happened on May 10. But due to the corona crisis it was not possible to organize them in the usual way. The government tried to organise them only with postal votes. Why?   Because it probably thought that it would be easier to have its own candidate, the present president, Andrzej Duda, re-elected, if the elections took place before all the negative effects, not least economically, from the corona crisis would become clear to the population. But the opposition and the courts resisted this plan, and the government had at the end against its will to postpone the vote. It will as already mentioned now take place on June 28 – and organized in the usual way. The present president is elected until August 6. In the meantime the Polish opposition has agreed on a joint candidate. It is the young and charismatic mayor of Warsaw,...

JUNE 8: Today is a great day here in Belgium. Most of the country will be reopened after the three months’ lockdown.   Cafes, restaurants and hotels open again, if they want to.   The rules about distance and cleaning hands, etc. are still in force. At some point it was even foreseen that guests in cafes and restaurants had to wear masks.   This idea was a bad one. The café owners as well as we – the clients – could quickly figure out, that it would be bad business for everybody.    Fortunately, summer is here, so outdoor service will be offered in many places – also where it did not exist before. About 20 % of the restaurants and cafes have said that they are not going to open today. They think that the restrictions will still prevent their business from being profitable, so they have decided to wait and see, until less strict rules will apply. Experts believe that about 10 % of the restaurants and cafes in Brussels will never open again due to the...

JUNE 5: An editor has many advantages. He can write about very different topics every day, if he wants to. This is what I will do also today. Yesterday my lovely daughter, Cecilie, in Australia had a very tough and painful day. How? She was sitting in the dentist’s chair for two full hours. And why? Because she had to have two wisdom teeth removed. This was a very hard time for her as well as for the dentist ☹ This inspired me to find out what a WISDOM TOOTH actually is? And why it is called so? I could tell Cecilie that I have NO wisdom teeth.   And she replied:   Oh, I see. This explains a lot ! A wisdom tooth is in Latin called dens serotinus. But that does not make it less difficult and at times painful. It is the name of the teeth at the very back in as well the upper part of the mouth as the lower part. So, if you are fully equipped you have 4 wisdom teeth. They will normally appear only when you are between 17 and 21 years old. This means that they ar...

JUNE 4: Today I want briefly to make a follow-up to three of my previous stories: HAMBURG: Yesterday – 100 days after the local elections – a new cooperation agreement between the two parties in government was presented: SPD under Lord Mayor Peter Tschentscher and THE GREENS under mayor Katharina Fegebank.   The new agreement has strengthend The Greens, who will now get one more post as mayor. This mayor will be responsible for transport questions – one of the top priorities of the party. You may follow events in Hamburg in English on this website: www.hamburg-news.hamburg/en   BELGIUM: The government’s corona Crisis Committee yesterday decided to start Phase 3 in the removal on the lockdown of the country. This is possible, because the development in the health situation is positive and satisfactory. The main points are: ·        Freedom is now the rule. The limitations the exception. ·     ...

JUNE 3: Today I want to write about THE UGLY AMERICAN.   This was the title of a book in 1958 about Americans in South East Asia.   I have never understood the main point in the book. And more important:   I have never met him, the Ugly American. I have tried many times and had lots of possibilities to run into him.   I have over 55 years visited more than 60 of the states in the US.    But right NOW I have a feeling that – unfortunately – I am close to finding him ☹ My personal experience with the US goes – as I already mentioned – 55 years back. At that time I was a young student and made a gorgeous trip across the states from San Francisco to Washington DC and New York. By train and bus.   But I never met the Ugly American.   Lots of things surprised me and made me wonder. But no ugly stuff!   We were all at the time fans of president Kennedy. And it was a great moment to visit his fresh grave on Arlington. My next American jo...

JUNE 2: Today I want to write about the new European success story: THE ARTIFICIAL HEART. The heart is – as we all know – the hardest working and most reliable muscle in our body. It beats day in and day out during our whole life.    Its number of heartbeats is about 100.000 a day – or between 3 and 3 ½ billions beats during a normal life span. Fantastic. Unfortunately, there are people who now and then have problems with their heart. In Denmark it is about 70.000 a year.   Most of the problems can be solved with medical drugs, cures and/or training.   In more serious cases an operation is necessary. The newest development is that an artificial heart has now been constructed and used with success in the human body.   It is called CARMAT – named after the French doctor behind it, ALAIN CARPENTIER, and the company constructing it, MATRA DÉFENCE.   It is part of the Airbus consortium. The project has received economic support from the EU thr...